20 Interesting Sandeep Patil facts – Charisma, Persona and Intelligence: Born on August 18, 1956 in Mumbai, Sandeep Patil was a destructive right-handed middle-order batsman and a jack of all trades who played for India between 1980 and 1986. A dashing batsman and a useful medium-pace bowler, Patil was a tower of strength in the Indian middle order for many years. His good looks, aggressive batsmanship and a liking for big hits made Patil a natural crowd puller.

1. On his Father’s path: He followed the footsteps of his father, Madhusudan Patil, a former first-class cricketer and started playing cricket at a very young age. His father was also a national level badminton player and a skilled tennis and football player.

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2. Ranji debut: He studied and played at Ramnarain Ruia college and made his Ranji Trophy debut with Bombay in 1975-76.

3. Highest Ranji Score: Just a week prior to making his international debut, the hard-hitter scored his career best Ranji innings for Mumbai against Saurashtra at the Wankhede Stadium, smashing 210 runs in just 205 balls. The highlight of the innings was when he sent a ball flying out of the stadium.

4. The India call up: Some fine contributions for West Zone against the visiting Australian and Pakistani teams in 1979-80 earned him the national call-up and he made his Test debut against Pakistan at Chennai on January 15, 1980.

6. ODI debut: He made his ODI debut towards the end of 1980 against Australia and bagged the Man of the Match award for a brilliant 64.

7. Batting with injury: In the first innings of the first Test against Australia in 1981, Patil had reached 65 when he was hit on the right ear by a Len Pascoe bouncer and collapsed on the pitch suffering concussion. He was forced to bat in the second innings to avoid an innings defeat.

8. Wrong footed: Apart from being a hard-hitting lower order batsman, he was a handy medium pacer who bowled off the wrong foot and attained considerable success in the international circuit with some fantastic performances for the country.

9. The fabulous knock at Adelaide: He came back very strong in the second Test after injury, and smashed a sparkling 174 in the Adelaide Test which was the highest score by an Indian in Australia at the time.

10. Not great numbers: Patil averaged a paltry 36 in Test matches and just above 24 in ODIs.

11. The 1983 World Cup: He was one of the heroes of the 1983 World Cup triumph and got India across the finish line with some good performances.

12. The NCA job: He was appointed the director of the National Cricket Academy in 2009 replacing Dav Whatmore.

13. Onscreen Star: Sandeep Patil has also starred in the movie “Kabhi Ajnabi The” with Poonam Dhillon and Debashree Roy.

14. The Chief selector: He was appointed as the new Chief of the BCCI Selection Committee on 27 September 2012, a post he holds till date.

15. The Madhya Pradesh connection: A stalwart for Bombay for several years, Patil in the last few seasons of his first-class career captained Madhya Pradesh with much success.

16.The coaching stint with Kenya: He coached the Kenya national side, which made history under him in 2003 by qualifying for the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time.

17. Also an editor!: Patil edited the Marathi sports magazine “Ekach Shatkar” and wrote his biography called Sandy Storm in 1984.

18. Omani Coach: Sandeep Patil became the coach of the national team of Oman after his Kenyan stint. He helped them qualify for the ICC Intercontinental Cup after some strong performances in the ACC Trophy.

19. Association with ICL: Patil went on to serve as the Coach of the Mumbai Champs in the ICL, but returned to the mainstream when he cut ties with the unofficial league in 2009.

20. The connection with Sachin’s ODI retirement: It was a phone call from Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors after which Sachin eventually decided to end his illustrious ODI career. Patil apparently told Tendulkar that the selectors couldn’t guarantee him a place in the team. The former India middle-order batsman said that the selectors would not drop the little maestro but it would be difficult to pick him in the team since the selectors had one eye on the 2015 World Cup. Tendulkar decided then to end his one-day career, even though he was keen to play one last series against Pakistan.